Press Release Details

United Natural Foods to Release Fiscal 2004 Third Quarter Results on June 1, 2004

May 12, 2004

DAYVILLE, Conn., May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- United Natural Foods, Inc. (Nasdaq: UNFI), today announced that it intends to release its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2004, ended April 30, 2004, before the market opens on Tuesday, June 1, 2004. Management will conduct a conference call and audio webcast at 11:00 a.m. ET on June 1, 2004 to review the Company's quarterly results, market trends and future outlook.

The conference call dial-in number is 303-262-2211. An audio webcast of the conference call will be available to the public, on a listen-only basis, via the Internet at www.fulldisclosure.com or at the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at www.unfi.com. Please allow extra time, prior to the call, to visit the site and download the necessary software to listen to the Internet broadcast. The online archive of the webcast will be available for 30 days.

About United Natural Foods

United Natural Foods, Inc. carries and distributes over 32,000 products to more than 14,000 customers nationwide. The Company serves a wide variety of retail formats including conventional supermarket chains, natural product superstores, independent retail operators and the food service channel. For more information on United Natural Foods, Inc., visit the Company's web-site at www.unfi.com.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to general business conditions, the impact of competition and the Company's dependence on principal customers, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2004, and its other filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. The Company is not undertaking to update any information in the foregoing reports until the effective date of its future reports required by applicable laws.

SOURCE United Natural Foods, Inc. -0- 05/12/2004 /CONTACT: Rick D. Puckett, Chief Financial Officer of United Natural Foods, Inc.,+1-860-779-2800; or Joseph Calabrese of Financial Relations Board, +1-212-445-8434, for United Natural Foods, Inc. / /Web site: http://www.unfi.com / (UNFI) CO: United Natural Foods, Inc. ST: Connecticut